The Hershey Foundation
Concord Twnsp, OH · EIN 34-1525626. Reported 84 grants totalling $3,017,500 to 53 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Hershey Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $15,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $600,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hershey Montessori School | Concord Twp, OH | $1,730,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Montessori Development Partnerships | Burton, OH | $267,000 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Council on World Affairs | Cleveland, OH | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Museum of Natural History | Cleveland, OH | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Zoological Society | Cleveland, OH | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Holden Forests & Gardens | Cleveland, OH | $65,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Institute of Music | Cleveland, OH | $60,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| International Montessori Training Institute | Madison, OH | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Flying Horse Farms | Mount Gilead, OH | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Hudson Montessori School | Hudson, OH | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Mdp | Cleveland, OH | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Uh Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital | Cleveland, OH | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Rainey Institute | Cleveland, OH | $32,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Western Reserve Land Conservancy | Moreland Hills, OH | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Ruffing Montessori School | Cleveland, OH | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ideastream | Cleveland, OH | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry | Cleveland, OH | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Edwins Leadership and Restaurant Institute | Cleveland, OH | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hannah Perkins Center for Child Development | Shaker Heights, OH | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage | Beachwood, OH | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Providence House | Cleveland, OH | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Universtiy Circle Inc | Cleveland, OH | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| City Music Cleveland | Cleveland Heights, OH | $13,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Beck Center for the Arts | Lakewood, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Cleveland Foundry | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Metroparks | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Public Library Foundation | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Facing History and Ourselves | Cleveland Heights, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Famicos Foundation | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio | Macedonia, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Musical Arts Association | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Nature Center at Shaker Lakes | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Refugee Response | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| YWCA Greater Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Apollo's Fire the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra | Cleveland Heights, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Ohio | Lorain, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park | Peninsula, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fieldstone Farm | Chagrin Falls, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Footpath Foundation | Cleveland, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries | Cleveland Heights, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hawken School | Gates Mills, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Re Source Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Shoes and Clothes for Kids | Cleveland, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University Circle Inc | Cleveland, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Music School Settlement | Cleveland, OH | $4,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| City Mission | Cleveland, OH | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| America Scores Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $3,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cleveland Jazz Orchestra | Broadview Heights, OH | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Childrens Museum of Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Family Connections of Northeast Ohio | Cleveland, OH | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Art House Inc | Cleveland, OH | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greater Cleveland Junior Golf Sponsorship | Bedford, OH | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The National Center for Family Philanthropy | Washington, DC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
16 of 53 (30%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 56%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Hershey Montessori School
OPTIMAL DESIGN FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AND RENOVATIONS - Montessori Development Partnerships
STONE BROOK MONTESSORI CAPITAL CAMPAIGN - Mdp
MONTESSORI TRAINING IN NORTHEAST OHIO - International Montessori Training Institute
MONTESSORI TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT - Flying Horse Farms
ENDOWMENT TO ENSURE COMP FOR KIDS WITH CHRONIC AND SERIOUS ILLNESS - Holden Forests & Gardens
FAMILY GALLERY AT THE CLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 50 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | $563,000 | $22,500 |
| 2022 | 30 | $827,000 | $11,000 |
| 2023 | 18 | $1,065,000 | $20,000 |
| 2024 | 24 | $562,500 | $5,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Hershey Foundation has 1 of them, worth $20,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Metroparks | Cleveland, OH | $20,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 100% of this one's giving went to organizations in Ohio. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $15,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Ohio.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Hershey Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 10229 Prouty Road, Concord Twnsp, OH, 44077. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 34-1525626 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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